Justin Trudeau’s great expectations clash with reality in China

Charles Dickens wrote a classic when he penned Great Expectations. Political leaders, on the other hand, make the classic mistake whenever they create expectations they don’t meet.

November 14, 2017

Justin Trudeau was no exception Monday as he left the Great Hall of the People in Beijing without an expected announcement that Canada and China would begin formal free trade negotiations.

Not that it was the prime minister’s fault.

His trade minister, François-Philippe Champagne, insisted during an interview Sunday with CBC Radio’s The House that issues remained to be worked out. And Canadian officials made the point to reporters in an off-the-record briefing before the trip.

June 17, 2017

It’s just that few people were buying the line.

Most business leaders, diplomats and political pundits thought this week’s trip to China — with its high-level meetings between Trudeau and the top two Chinese leaders, with its stated focus on trade, closer ties and shared prosperity — would produce an announcement that after four rounds of exploratory talks and months of efforts, Canada and China would finally make a commitment.

September 2, 2016

“Prime ministers usually don’t go on trips like that without something to announce,” said John Manley, the CEO of the Business Council of Canada, who was one of the few people cautioning Trudeau to proceed slowly after being the sole holdout two weeks earlier in signing an agreement in principle with Japan and the other members of Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The two sides have been engaged in exploratory talks for a year. China made it clear it was ready to take the next step, to try and forge its first agreement in North America, and its first with a member of the G7 group of industrialized nations. (Continued: CBC)

Trump trades barbs for flattery in gambit to win over China

Outside the Great Hall of the People here on Thursday, President Donald Trump watched with an unmistakable air of satisfaction as cordons of Chinese troops marched stiff-legged in his honor, an eight-cannon salute preceding their parade.

It was just the latest display of elaborate pageantry put on by his Chinese hosts, and inside the cavernous state edifice two hours later, the outsized display of flattery appeared to pay off.

Instead of lashing China for trade practices he once compared to rape and theft, he praised the country and its powerful leader, Xi Jinping, for cunningly exploiting the US to benefit his own citizens — and harm American workers.

“Who can blame a country for being able taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens?” Trump said as Xi watched on from a few feet away. Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd of Chinese and American business executives, whose firms are inking new deals here in a spectacle meant to demonstrate Trump’s negotiating prowess.

“I give China great credit,” he added. “In actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this trade deficit to take place and grow.”

It was a remarkable show of deference to Xi, who emerged from last month’s Communist Party Congress the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation. And while US officials downplayed the significance of the remark, it nevertheless laid bare the lengths to which Trump is prioritizing his personal chemistry with his counterparts here as he seeks to advance an agenda of isolating North Korea and brokering new trade deals.

Trump’s praise for his Chinese counterpart wasn’t limited to the remarks at the signing ceremony for the $250 billion in US-Chinese business deals. At the top of a bilateral meeting, the accolades dripped from Trump’s mouth as he expressed his gratitude for the welcome mat Xi had laid out.

They had an “absolutely terrific” dinner. It was a “very, very great honor” to be together. The military display was “magnificent.” And their relationship? “A great one.” (Source: CNN)

Trump warns North Korea’s Kim he will ‘truly regret’ further threats to US and allies

Donald Trump on Friday went further to turn the crisis over North Korea into a personal battle of wills between him and Kim Jong-un, warning the North Korean leader he would “truly regret” hostile acts against US territory or US allies.

The warning came a few hours after an early-morning tweet from the president that claimed US military options were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang “acted unwisely”.

The tweet triggered worldwide alarm and a rebuke from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: “I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer.”

But Trump stood by his words when asked about them at his golf resort in New Jersey.

“I hope they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” Trump said. “Those words are very, very easy to understand.”

He then issued an ultimatum to Kim Jong-un himself. “This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” he said. “If he utters one threat in form of overt threat – which, by the way, he’s been uttering for years – or if he does anything in respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it.”

The North Korean leadership has warned it will launch four missiles at the waters around US Pacific territory of Guam as a warning to the US if it persisted with its practice sorties by long-range bombers based on the island.

Despite gung-ho language from the US president, there was no change in US deployments in the region or a change in the alert status of US forces. And it was reported on Friday that the Trump administration had reopened a channel of communication between US and North Korean diplomats at the U.N. (Source: The Guardian)

China-based Hytera returns with matching bid for Vancouver’s Norsat International

September 23, 2016

Norsat International Inc., the Vancouver tech firm at the centre of duelling acquisition bids, says China-based Hytera Communications has matched a $67.3 million US rival takeover offer from an American fund manager.

Hytera, which manufactures radio transceivers and radio systems, made its friendly takeover offer for Norsat last year and received clearance under the Investment Canada Act this month.

April 26, 2017

But Privet Fund Management LLC — a U.S. company that already owns 17.6 per cent of Norsat’s equity — emerged with a rival bid this week that was 25 cents per share above Hytera’s offer of $11.25 US.

Although Hytera has now raised its offer to $11.50 US per share and amended the break fees in line with Privet’s bid, Norsat says there’s no assurance that the transaction will get all necessary approvals and be completed.

Hytera’s proposal has sparked a heated political debate over national security risks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that the U.S. was consulted before Industry Canada gave its approval early in June. But Norsat says it also needs approval from the federal government’s industrial technologies office.

Norsat announced Friday that its previously adjourned shareholders meeting will resume next Thursday in Richmond, B.C. (Source: CBC News)

Canada pursues possible trade deal with China as softwood lumber dispute with U.S. heats up

December 7, 2005

Exploratory free trade talks are underway this week as Canadian and Chinese officials visit one another’s countries to discuss what a potential agreement might look like.

Chinese officials are gathering at the offices at Global Affairs Canada, while two federal ministers, International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, are in China.

In Washington on Friday, Morneau said his China trip will focus on furthering relationships with his Chinese counterparts and key industry players, while Champagne works to promote the use of Canadian lumber in home construction.

Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr will travel to China in June with forestry leaders to further look for new markets.

This broad diplomatic push comes as the U.S. looks set to impose new duties on Canadian softwood.

September 2, 2016

Joel Neuheimer, the senior director of International Trade for the Forest Products Association of Canada, said the last time the softwood industry faced duties from the U.S. — more than a decade ago — the push to find new markets in China paid off.

“If you look back to 2006 versus 2016, from a percentage point of view, we’ve really tripled our exports in forest products to the Chinese marketplace, going from five per cent of our exports to 15 per cent of our exports,” Neuheimer told CBC News.

That initial effort focused primarily on single-family home construction, he said, but looking to the future the effort will need to be expanded to selling lumber for the construction of larger buildings such as schools, libraries and apartment buildings.

“We’re looking at doing even more going forward, again taking into consideration what we’re bracing ourselves for here going forward with the United States and the harmful duties they’re about to impose on our wood products,” Neuheimer said. (Source: CBC News)